Child custody laws to be revised

CONTROVERSIAL changes requiring courts to consider shared child custody will be reviewed by the Federal Government.

Critics of the changes say they are creating a generation of "ping-pong" children who have to shuttle between parents.

"High-conflict families should not have shared care because the children end up as ping-pong children going back and forth," the chairman of the Family Law Council, John Wade, said.

The Howard government introduced changes to the Family Law Act in 2006 which required the Family Court to consider shared care where it is deemed to be in the child's best interests.

The changes also required parents to discuss their living arrangements, including the family home's location and the possibility of new partners moving in.

A spokesman for the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, said the Government would consider the changes as part of a review of the Family Law Act. The review will be done by the Australian Institute of Family Studies and completed later this year.

The institute is separately researching the effect the changes have had on domestic violence and child abuse.

But Professor Wade said the Family Law Act was becoming too complicated as a result of too many changes. Parent lobby groups had become very influential, he said, with the result that changes were made too often.

Professor Wade said family law should only be able to be amended once every five years.

The Opposition spokesman on families, Tony Abbott, said at the weekend he would like couples to be given the option of being married under a new law akin to the defunct Matrimonial Causes Act, a fault-based system of divorce.

The review will look at marriage but the Government is unlikely to make any changes.

Professor Wade said a fault-based system would necessitate the creation of a new court.

He said people who wanted to use a new system should have to pay $20,000 into a government fund to cover its running costs.